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Q4 2024 Crane NXT Co Earnings Call

In This Article:

Participants

Matt Roach; Vice President of Investor Relations; Crane NXT Co

Aaron Saak; President, Chief Executive Officer, Director; Crane NXT Co

Christina Cristiano; Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President; Crane NXT Co

Matt Summerville; Analyst; D.A. Davidson & Co

Mike Halloran; Analyst; Robert W. Baird

Bobby Brooks; Analyst; Northland Capital Markets

Bob Labick; Analyst; CJS Securities

Damian Karas; Analyst; UBS

Isaac Sellhausen; Analyst; Oppenheimer & Co

Presentation

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Crane NXT fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Matt Roache, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Matt Roach

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. I want to welcome you all to the fourth quarter and full year 2024 earnings call for Crane NXT. Before we begin, let me remind you that the slides we will reference during this presentation can be accessed via the Investor Relations section of our website at cranenxt.com, and a replay of today's call will also be available on our website.
Before we discuss our results, I encourage all participants to review the legal notice on slide 2, which explains the risks of forward-looking statements and the use of non-GAAP financial measures. Additionally, we refer you to the cautionary language at the bottom of our earnings release and in our Form 10-K and subsequent filings pertaining to forward-looking statements.
During the call, we will also be using non-GAAP numbers, which are reconciled to the comparable GAAP numbers in the tables at the end of our press release and accompanying slide presentation, both of which are available on our website at cranenxt.com in the Investor Relations section.
With me today are Aaron Saak, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Christina Cristiano, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. On our call this morning, we'll discuss 2024 highlights, our financial and operational performance and our 2025 financial guidance and outlook. After our prepared remarks, we will open the call to analysts for questions.
With that, I'll turn the call over to Aaron.

Aaron Saak

Thank you, Matt, and good morning. I appreciate everyone joining the call this morning to discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2024 results as well as our outlook for 2025. I'd like to start by thanking our associates around the world for their hard work during Q4. We have an outstanding team, and I'm proud of what we accomplished together in 2024.
Starting with our financial results. Our Q4 and full year performance was in line with our expectations. Sales growth was approximately 12% in the fourth quarter and approximately 7% for the full year, and adjusted EBITDA margin was approximately 27% in both periods. We continue to generate strong free cash flow, with adjusted free cash flow conversion of approximately 109% in the fourth quarter and approximately 76% for the full year. Finally, we delivered adjusted EPS of $1.20 in the fourth quarter and $4.26 for the full year.
We continue to execute our strategy in Q4, taking meaningful steps to position the company for long-term success and build on our position as a technology leader. Specifically, in our Currency business, we continue to win share with our leading security technology, and we ended 2024 winning a total of 13 new denominations, specifying micro-optics. Additionally, our strong backlog gives us high confidence in our sales outlook for international currency in 2025.
Also in Q4, we won our first contract selling micro-optics through the OpSec channel. Through this agreement with a luxury perfumed company will provide labels containing micro-optic technology, along with the digital authentication solution to increase customers' engagement with the brand.
We will also provide online brand protection services that'll allow this customer to remove counterfeit products from online marketplaces. This is a great first step in driving commercial synergies with our expanded product portfolio through the OpSec acquisition, and also increases our recurring revenue.
We're also completing the final equipment upgrades to support the launch of the new US bank notes that will enter production in 2026. We successfully completed the first cycle of upgrades on schedule in Q1 of '24, and began the second cycle, which is on track to be finished at the end of March. These investments are critical milestones to prepare for the new US currency, and I continue to be excited by this decade-long growth opportunity and what it will provide Crane NXT.
And in CPI, we opened our first service center, providing customers with a new cost-effective option for repairs, complementing our on-site field service offerings. As you know, we've also been very busy executing on our strategy to grow and diversify our portfolio. Last year, we completed the acquisitions of OpSec and Tru Tag Smart Packaging. The integration of both acquisitions is going as anticipated, and we're utilizing the Crane Business System to drive operating synergies.
Additionally, we expect to close the acquisition of De La Rue Authentication Solutions in the second quarter of this year, expanding our customer base and product offerings across the product and brand authentication value chain. And we continue to have a very active and robust M&A funnel. Our strong balance sheet and free cash flow generation gives us ample capacity to continue to grow and diversify the portfolio in 2025.
So as we exited 2024, I believe we are in a very good position for long-term shareholder value creation. Thank you again to all the associates for their dedication in '24 and focus on executing in 2025. With that, let me now turn the call over to Christina to review our fourth quarter and full year financial performance in detail as well as outline our 2025 guidance. Christina?